Weston McKennie | The Professor's Convatorium

For my handful of fellow footballing/soccer enthusiasts on WordPress like Ark (South Africa & England) of A Tale Unfolds, John Z (Australia & Brazil) of The Superstitious Naked Ape, Brian (England) of Butterflies to Dragsters, Hariod (England) at Contentedness who has unfortunately been absent for some time now, Swarn (Canadian) of Cloak Unfurled also absent from here quite awhile, and any others who are passionate about the world’s “Most Beautiful Game,” I wanted to post a precursor of U.S. Men’s footballing hopes leading up to the FIFA 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Africa, this November. Also, to start a bit of chatter and fun banter back-n-forth of our various national teams and favorite players.

**USA vs N. Ireland** – March 2021 – L to R back row: *Tim Ream, Antonee Robinson, Matt Miazga, Aaron Long, Theoson Siebatcheu, Zack Steffan;* front row L to R: *Yunus Musah, Kellyn Acosta, Sergiño Dest, Christian Pulisic, Giovanni Reyna*

If the U.S.A. starting lineup can remain healthy between now and Nov. 20^th when the Cup begins and during their individual club seasons, the Yanks can show very well. Plus, the U.S. is in a decent Group B and should advance to the next round either as the runner-up team of the Group or possibly the winner, if… and this is a huge ask, IF we can beat Iran and Wales, and perhaps draw with England to move on to the Round of 16.

But I must reiterate, if our first-team starters can stay injury-free between now and Nov. 3^rd or 4^th, then we have a decent-to-good chance of doing well in the Round of 16 and possibly advancing to the Quarter-finals! The Quarters are the farthest the USMNT has ever advanced in recent modern times. The last time we went that far was with our historically best national team roster ever: the FIFA WC 2002 in Japan/S. Korea. We lost to Germany by a score of 0 — 1, but competed pretty well.

Why do we American fans have much to be excited about? Because we have at least seven (7) great starters by any world-footballing measurements. From exceptional-to-very-good, in my professional opinion, best to last, here are our top 7, Tier One U.S. players:

Christian Pulisic (23y/o) – Forward, Chelsea FC
Weston McKennie (23y/o) – Midfielder, Juventus
Giovanni Reyna (19y/o) – Forward, Borussia Dortmund
Zack Steffen (27y/o) – Goalkeeper, now Middlesbrough FC
Sergiño Dest (21y/o) – Defender, AC Milan
Tim Weah (22y/o) – Forward, Lille
Tyler Adams (23y/o) – Midfielder, Leeds United
Brenden Aaronson (21y/o) – Forward, Leeds United

One of our brightest upcoming stars on the world stage of football is by far and away Gio Reyna. Giovanni has recently endured an injury-prone last 12-14 months with a nagging hamstring. But once he is fully healthy and back to full-strength, watch out! Enjoy these highlights of our 19-y/o phenom:

For us to have a good chance of advancing out of the Group stage and out of the Round of 16, these seven players must remain healthy and playing their A-game. Without our big three—Pulisic, Reyna, and McKennie—we stand no chance of going deep into the tournament. If they fall, we could be or will be coming home early. World Cup fans, keep your eyes on these U.S. players. Because if they perform at their very best and link-up, then the U.S. will be a threat for any national team in the tournament.

Moving on to our “good potential” Tier Two squad players to watch, they are as follows:

Paul Arriola (27y/o) – Forward, FC Dallas
Matt Turner (28y/o) – Goalkeeper, Arsenal
Christian Roldan (27y/o) – Midfielder, Seattle Sounders
Walker Zimmerman (29y/o) – Defender, Nashville SC
Jesus Ferreira (21y/o) – Forward, FC Dallas
Antonee Robinson (25y/o) – Defender, Fulham FC
Luca de la Torre (24y/o) – Midfielder, Celta de Vigo
Yunus Musah (19y/o) – Midfielder, Valencia
Kellyn Acosta (27y/o) – Midfielder, L.A. FC

And finally our Tier Three squad players:

DeAndre Yedlin (29y/o) – Defender, Inter Miami
Reggie Cannon (24y/o) – Defender, Boavista
Ricardo Pepi (19y/o) – Forward, FC Augsburg
Sean Johnson (33y/o) – Goalkeeper, NYC FC
Ethan Horvath (27y/o) – Goalkeeper, Luton Town FC
John Brooks (29y/o) – Defender, Hertha BSC
Cameron Carter-Vickers (24y/o) – Defender, Celtic
Haji Wright (24y/o) – Forward, Antalyaspor
Djordje Mihailovic (23y/o) – Midfielder, CF Montréal
Aaron Long (29y/o) – Defender, NY Red Bulls
George Bello (20y/o) – Defender, Arminia Bielefeld
Chris Richards (22y/o) – Defender, Crystal Palace FC
Malik Tillman (20y/o) – Midfielder, Rangers/Bayern Munich

As you may have noticed, as of this date the USMNT is noticeably weakest in defense, particularly center defense with the exception of Zimmerman. Walker is reliably consistent, but he is not prolific with his pace or ball-technique. He is fairly strong in the air. And Sergiño Dest (Left Back) is our best attacking wing-fullback followed by Antonee Robinson (Right Back). However, Antonee is known to be inconsistent with his attacking decisions and he sometimes is too direct and shows reckless abandon with the ball in those moments. This recklessness gets him into yellow-card trouble.

*USMNT – Champions of 2021 CONCACAF Nations League, 3 – 2 over Mexico*

Our older veterans in the squad, such as Steffen, Yedlin and Brooks, do offer good European footballing intelligence in very competitive European leagues, however, with perhaps the exception of Steffen, none of them are of Tier One quality to impact games significantly.

Despite our rather shallow bench of little elite European experience, I am personally super thrilled about our likely USMNT potential in Qatar this World Cup, as well as our future eight years. So Ark, John Z, Brian, and any other chatty footballing fanatics, what do your Pep Guardiola, Carlo Ancelotti minds think? Tell me about your national teams and favorite players. What are your expectations for the sporting world’s biggest spectacle on Earth since 1930? Any predictions on who will be in the Final?